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In reversal, Pentagon may not let detainees see evidence

June 15, 2008

WASHINGTON — When Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other alleged co-conspirators in the 2001 terrorist attacks seek to represent themselves in military commissions trials in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, they may be barred from reviewing highly classified evidence and might not have access to the intelligence agents who interrogated them, according to the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions.

The Justice Department has argued that the Supreme Court's decision last week granting the Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their detentions in U.S. courts should not affect the military trials process.

Though the top legal adviser for the commissions process, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, has said the trials will be "fair, just and transparent" and that detainees would have full access to the evidence against them, Pentagon officials have backed off those claims.